Contour measurement apparatus

ABSTRACT

A technique for measuring the contour of a surface by generating a pattern of optical interference between a periodic shadow pattern cast onto the surface and a periodic reference pattern. Translating the shadow pattern and the reference pattern at least one complete cycle of spatial frequency causes the average intensity of the shadow pattern, the reference grid pattern, and various extraneous optical noise images to be minimized or cancelled, so that only contour lines accurately describing the contour of the surface remain on the surface to be viewed or photographed.

United States Patent [191 Johnson et al.

1 CONTOUR MEASUREMENT APPARATUS [75] Inventors: Winston 0. Johnson, Atlanta;

Donald M. Meadows, Marietta, both of Ga.

[73 l Assignee: Lockheed Aircraft Corporation,

Burbank, Calif.

[22] Filed: July 14, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 162,686

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 10,520, Feb. 11, 1970, Pat. No.

[52] US. Cl. 356/120, 356/156 [51] 1nt.Cl.; G011) 11/30, GOlb 11/00 [58] Field of Search .1 356/120, 169, 170, 356/156; 350/162 R; 353/28 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Heidenhain 356/169 Bower et a1 356/169 3,371,335 2/1968 Seewald 1 356/169 3,427,463 2/1969 Weyrauch 250/237 G Primary Examiner-Ronald L. Wibert Allorney-Robert T. Frost et al.

57 ABSTRACT A technique for measuring the contour of a surface by generating a pattern of optical interference between a periodic shadow pattern cast onto the surface and a pe' riodic reference pattern. Translating the shadow pattern and the reference pattern at least one complete cycle of spatial frequency causes the average intensity of the shadow pattern, the reference grid pattern, and various extraneous optical noise images to be minimizcd or cancelled, so that only contour lines accurately describing the contour of the surface remain on the surface to be viewed or photographed.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTED 2 5 SHEET 2 UP 3 FIGQZ GRID PHASE POSITIONS PATENTED 2 9 5 SHEET 3 BF 3 mtmomzou 32; E980 CONTOUR MEASUREMENT APPARATUS This is a Division of application Ser. No. 10,520 filed Feb. ll, 1970, and assigned to the same assignee this application is assigned to; said application Ser. No. 10,520 new issued as United States Letters Patent 3,627,427 dated Dec. 14, 1971.

This invention relates in general to contour measurement and, in particular, to a method and apparatus using optical pattern interference techniques for measuring the contour of a surface while eliminating or minimizing unwanted optical interference images.

Surface contour information frequently is needed for many purposes and in many fields. For example, a small scale model of an automobile must be recreated in a different scalefor the development of production tooling and for other purposes. Similarly, the designer of an airplane or a boat who has tested a model design in a wind tunnel or a water tank and who must now build a corresponding model craft to a different scale knows the importance of accurately reproducing the contours of the model in the new vehicle. Terrain mapping, comparison testing of manufactured parts, and measurement of the human body are but a few other examples of the need for obtaining contour information of complex and frequently non-planar surface contours.

Various prior art techniques have been proposed for providing information on the contour of a surface.

Such prior art techniques generally require that the contour of the surface be measured by a point-by-point process at a number of different surface locations. Stereoscopic photography or a suitable-contacting probe may be used to provide this height data. The data points then can be used to construct another model or to produce a contour map wherein isogram lines connect areas of equal elevation or height with respect to a datum plane. The time required in such prior art techniques to reduce the measured data or stereo pictures to the forms ofa contour map is expensive and prevents real-time measurement of the contour of a surface which is subjected to dynamic loading.

An optical contour measuring method and apparatus has been developed as an alternative to the foregoing techniques. This optical contour measuring system, which is described in copending application Ser. No. 792,346, entitled Method and Apparatus for Contour Measurement", filed Jan. 21, I969 and having the same assignee as the present invention, enables bright and dark moire fringes to be observed on a surface. The respective hinges or lines or brightness and darkness represent regions of equal elevation or height with re spect to a datum plane if certain geometrical considerations are observed. In general, this direct optical contour measuring technique is accomplished by applying a periodically repetitive image to the surface being evaluated, as by projecting an image ofa grid or Ronchi ruling onto the surface or by interposing between a source of illumination and the surface a transparent member having grid lines disposed thereon. The elevation-modulated periodic image thus occurring on the surface is placed in interference with another periodic image in such a way that interference patterns known as moire fringes are formed. These moire fringes represent locations of uniform spatial phase shift between the aforementioned periodic images and, if certain geometric requirements are met, also represent locations of uniform elevation of the surface being evaluated.

The moire fringes appear on the surface as lines similar to the isogram lines ofa conventional contour map, and these moire fringe lines can be viewed by the unaided eye and photographed. However, such view or photograph not only includes the desired contour-indicating fringe lines but additionally includes portions of the repetitive image which was projected or cast onto the surface, typically consisting of parallel shadow lines, portions of the image of the periodic structure which causes the optical intereference with the shadow lines, and extraneous visual patterns also caused by-optical pattern interference between the two periodic images and analogous to noise" in an electrical system. These unwanted optical patterns tend to mask and obscure the contour-indicating fringe lines, thus reducing the elevational resolution capability of the direct optical contour measuring system escribed in the abovereferenced application.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for surface contour measurement.

It is another object of this invention to provide a surface contour measurement method and apparatus for generating visual patterns which appear to be present on a surface being examined and which represent contour lines of such surface.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for surface contour analysis in which interference contour patterns corresponding to contour lines of the surface are generated by optical interference between two periodic image patterns and in which certain extraneous image patterns which obscure the contour patterns are removed.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for surface contour measurement by optical interference to generate interference patterns of contour lines which contain few or no extraneous noise imagps and which are continuous and unbroken for a corresponding surface contour.

The exact nature of this invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will be readily apparent from consideration of the following specification relating to the annexed drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the geometric relationship of a contour measurement grid, an illumination source, and an observation point according to an embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating certain ones of the spatial phase shift positions which the grid of FIG. 1 occupies;

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of apparatus for accomplishing phase shifting translation of the corner measurement grid;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of another embodiinent of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the steps of the FIG. 4 embodiment.

Stated generally, the contour of a surface is measured by applying a periodically repetitive image onto the surface, such as by directing illumination through a grid structure to direct a shadow image of the grid onto the surface. The periodic shadow image cast on the surface is placed in interference with another periodic image, such as by viewing the surface through the same grid structure or another grid structure having a proper positional and dimensional relationship to the shadow casing grid. The grids are translationally moved along the grid plane in a direction perpendicular to the grid lines to accomplish partial or complete cancellation of all grid structure image, shadow image, and extraneous optical interference images not arising from contour information in the dimension of elevation being investigated.

Turning now to the figures for a more detailed explanation of the present invention, FIG. 1 shows contour measuring apparatus of the type described in greater detail in the aforementioned application and including a grid 11 disposed adjacent an object 12, the contour of which is to be examined. The grid 1 1 is characterized by a periodic shadow-casting structure constituting a repetitive pattern of optically distinguishable segments, such as transparent and opaque segments, and preferably can comprise a series of uniformly spaced apart parallel opaque lines 13 disposed on a transparent member by any suitable technique. The spaces between the opaque lines 13 define a corresponding series of parallel uniform transparent lines 21. The details of the transparent and opaque grid lines are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. A source 14 of illumination is positioned .a distance H above the grid 1 1. For the most effective operation of the embodiment described in FIGS. 1 and 3 hereof, the width or extent of the illumination source 14 as measured in the direction x should be minimized. Accordingly, the illumination source 14 may be of a type known in the art, such as a line or a point source of illumination, producing illumination diverging outwardly from the source. If a line source is used, the source is aligned, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, so that the line of illumination is parallel with the lines 13 and 21 of the grid 11.

An observing point 'on the same side of the grid 1 1 as the illumination source 14 is defined at a location H above the grid and spaced a distance L from the illumination source as measured parallel with the plane occupied by the grid and transverse to'the grid lines. This observation point 15 may include the lens of a suitable camera or it may merely by a point where the eye of an observer can view the contour lines appearing on the object 12 as described below.

An object 12 placed in the object space below the grid 1 1 is covered with a shadow pattern 18 cast by the illumination from the source 14 passing through the I grid. The lines of the shadow pattern 8 will, of course,

cut across the model 12 at locations determined by the surface-contour of the model. Patterns of brightness and darkness are visible on the model surface viewed from point 15 through the grid 11, and these patterns look like contour lines appearing on the model surface. These lines are caused by the interference of the shadow pattern 18 cast onto the model and the optical pattern of the grid 11 through which the object 12 is viewed. Of course, the opaque lines 13 of the grid 11 and the lines of the shadow pattern 18, which are visible in the line of sight through the transparent lines 21 of the grid, are also seen at point 15.

if H, H, H, then it can be shown that the aforementioned contour lines, as seen at the point 15, result from alternate planes of brightness and darkness which are present in the object space (and which are cut by the surface contour of the object 12), that these planes of brightness and darkness are parallel to the grid 11, and that the spacing of such planes from the grid 11 is defined by the mathematical expression 5 nPH/ L nP tour of the object 12, and the spatial frequency l/P of the grid 11. For the case of a sinusoidal grid pattern, the intensity 1 of the image on the object 12 as seen by an observer at the point 15 is given by the following where x and y are respectively parallelto and perpendicular to the plane of the grid 11, as shown in FIG. 1, C is an illumination constant, and y is measured downwardly from the source 14.

Only the first variable term of Equation (2) is dependent solely on y, which is perpendicular to the plane of the grid 1 1 and which represents the dimension of contour elevation. The other three variable terms of this equation are all dependent on some function of x and y combined. it can be seen, accordingly, that if the grid ll is moved one cycle in the x direction, the second variable term of Equation (2) is shifted two cycles and the third and fourth variable terms of the equation each is shifted one cycle; the first term of the equation, being independent of the x variable, remains unchanged. Shifting of the grid 11 one complete cycle in the Jr direction thus causes each of the x-dependent terms of the observed image to be cancelled.

Accordingly, if the image at point 15 of the object 12 is viewed or photographed while the grid 11 is translated in the x direction one cycle, all variable elements of the observed intensity 1,, have an average intensity of zero except for the term which contains only contour information. An observer at point 15 would see on the object 12 only true contour lines representing the first variable term of Equation (2) and would not see the grid lines, the shadow pattern 18, or the high frequency noise components of the interference signals if the velocity of grid translation is sufficient for the perception of the observer to average the phase-shifted components of the observed signal. A time exposure taken at point 15 during a cycle of grid translation contains only contour information if the velocity of grid translation is sufficient to cause the x-variable terms to be averaged by the film emulsion. V

FIG. 3 shows an example of apparatus for translatin the grid 11 in the x direction. The grid 11 is mounted in a pair of parallel rails 24 and 25 and is connected through a thrust member 26 to a linear actuator 27. The linear actuator 27, which receives power from the motor 28. is a well-known mechanism which converts rotary input motion to linear output motion. Any suitable mechanism for translating thegrid 11 could be substituted for the linear actuator 27 and the motor 28 so long as the grid 1 I can be moved at a constant velocity along the rails 24 and 25.

Movement of the grid 11 along the guide rails causes the grid to pass momentarily through all phase positions of a grid cycle or period. Representative grid phase positions are shown in FIG. 2, wherein the zero degree position shown at FIG. 2(a) is arbitrarily taken as the starting position with reference to Equation (2) above. Movement of the grid 11 along the rails causes the grid lines 12 and 13 to pass through the 90, 180, and 270 positions to reach the 360 position, shifted in phase one cycle from the 0 position.

Although precise averaging of the grid, shadow, and high frequency interference patterns to be cancelled requires that the grid 11 be moved an exact integral multiple of the grid period, it has been found in practice that moving the grid through at least five cycles of grid spacing reduces the effect of any additional portion of a cycle of grid travel to a level where such effect is no longer evident in the observed image at the observation point 15. In the operation of the FIG. 3 embodiment, for example, the motor 28 is started to translate the grid 11 at a constant velocity along the rails 24 and 25. The shutter of a camera at the observation point 15 is opened and remains open as the grid 11 moves at a constant velocity for a distance equal to at least five grid cycles. The shutter is then closed (assuming the film is adequately exposed) and the motor 28 is stopped. The photograph thus produced shows a picture of the object 12, such as the airplane model depicted, on which is superimposed a series of continuous bright and dark contour lines, each of which represents a line of uniform elevation in the Y-direction, measured with reference to the plane of the grid 11. Of course, these contour lines also can be seen by an observer at the point 15 during the time that the grid 11 is being translated. The translational velocity of the grid is not critical so long as the velocity is sufficient that observed flicker of the image or blurring of the photograph is eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level. A grid translational velocity of about 30 grid cycles per second is acceptable for direct observation of the contour image.

There are practical limitations to the size of the object which can be contour measured with the FIGS. 1 and 3 embodiment of the present invention because of the unwieldy grid 11 which would be required, for example, to measure the contour of a full-scale aircraft wing. These practical limitations of size attending the direct viewing techniques are recognized in the copending application identified above, and that application teaches an alternative technique wherein the shadow grid pattern is projected onto the object to be contoured in substantially the same way in which a photographic slide is projected onto a screen. A photograph of the object including a projected shadow pattern similar to the shadow pattern 18 of FIG. 1 is taken at the observation point 15. The second grid required to produce the optical interference which yields the desired contour information may be provided by a transparent overlay member having a grid image identical to the grid image which would have been present at the focal plane of the camera had the shadow pattern been projected onto a screen at a predetermined reference plane in the object space to present a uniform image of the shadow grid. The transparent overlay grid member then is laid over the photograph and positioned toprovide proper registration with the shadow grid pattern depicted on the photograph, at which time the contour pattern of the object can be seen on the photograph through the transparent overlay grid. Of course, the foregoing projection technique, as described more completely in the aforementioned copending applica-' tion, yields a contour picture having the same undesired extraneous information described above with respect to the shadow grid technique.

An understanding of how the true contour techniques of the present invention can be applied to the projection contour measuring techniques summarized above is best obtained by again considering the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 3 herein. For any phase position of the grid 11 there is a phase position shifted exactly 180 having an image which, added to the first phase position, results in complete cancellation of the grid image since the intensity of the grid images at the 0 and 180 positions, for example, averages to zero intensity. For example, see FIGS. 2(a) and 2(0). Moreover, the shadow pattern cast by the grid also is cancelled by translating the grid l80 since the grid shadow is translated in phase synchronism with the motion of the grid.

Instead of moving the grid 11 at a uniform velocity while a true contour photograph'is obtained as described above, it has been found that similar contour results can be obtained by taking four exposures on the same negative, if the grid 11 is held stationary during each exposure and is shifted 90 into position for each subsequent exposure. The four discrete grid positions can be obtained by a suitable mechanism for advancing the grid exactly one-quarter of a period, or the grid may be positioned manually if sufficiently accurate positional measurements can be obtained. The four photographed positions of the grid thus are 0, and 270, with the 0 position being arbitrarily chosen as the grid position at which the first exposure is taken. This four-position contour photographing technique produces continuous contour detail with no extraneous grid shadow or noise information when used with a sinusoidal grid structure. If a square-wave grid is used with the four-position system, the resultant photograph of the surface contour is virtually indistinguishable from the contour information obtained with a sinusoidal grid structure, although a theoretical evaluation of the observed image generated by the square-wave grid structure indicates that there is a noise content present in the resultant image. A square-wave" grid, as the term is used herein, is a grid having an abrupt transition in transmissivity between each opaque line 13 and the adjacent transparent line 21, and a sinusoidal grid structure is one wherein the transmissivity of the grid varies sinusoidally from the completely opaque of each opaque line 13 to the completely transmissive of the djacent transparent line 21. adjacent The particular importance of the four-position technique described above is that, unlike the continuous grid movement concept of FIGS. 1 and 3, it can be applied in the projection contour technique. For example, four separate photographs taken at the observation point 15 can be made of an object having a shadow pattern projected thereon from a grid slide contained in a 1 suitable projection system. The grid slide can be considered as being in the position for the first photograph and the slide can be displaced exactly 90, 180, and 270, respectively, relative to such first position for the three subsequent photographs. A transparent overlay grid having a grid image identical to the camera focal plane image of the shadow pattern projected onto a reference plane by that grid slide position is prepared for each of the four grid slide positions. Each overlay grid must be precisely aligned with the respective photograph to produce the desired optical interference. A separate negative is made of each of the four photograph-overlay grid combinations, and these four negatives are used to produce a single composite photograph which contains the object with continuous contour lines thereon and with no extraneous optical noise.

While the four-photograph technique described above is workable, the alignment problems arising out of a grid slide which must be moved to four precisely controlled positions, along with the four photographs and the corresponding four overlays grids, make the four-picture technique costly and time-consuming. In practice these problems can be substantially overcome,

are positioned so that the grid images projected onto the datum plane 33 by the grid structure images 34a and 341) are in exact registry and are 90' out of phase with each other. A suitable camera having the nodal point of the camera lens disposed at the observation point completes the apparatus shown in FIG. 4. Of course, for Equation (1), given above, to be valid H,

- H H must be observed in the geometry of the FIG.

4 apparatus.

The operation of the two-photograph technique is now described with reference to FIG. 4 and the flow chart of FIG. 5. First, a photograph is made of the obv ject 12 having a shadow pattern cast thereon by illumihowever, if it-is realized that all information necessary 1 to record the required four phase positions of the grid slide can be obtained with only two shadow pattern exposures and resultant photographs, the first taken at 0 phase and the second taken at a phase position displaced 90. A negative made from the 0 photograph is the exact equivalent of a photographic positive madeat 180 displacement, insofar as the shadow pattern 18 projected on the object 12 is concerned, if the grid slide is symmetrical, i.e., if the width of each opaque line is the same as the width of each transparent line. Similarly, a negative made of the 90 phase position photograph is the exact equivalent of a photographic positive made at 270. Photographs taken at each of the 0 and 90 positions, along with the 180 and 270 negatives made from such photographs, provide the four positions which can be photographically combined to yield contour information along with cancellation of extraneous noise information.

The foregoing two-exposure technique can beimplemented according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. An object 12 being examined for contour analysis is positioned with respect to a datum plane 33, which may be an imaginary plane in space or which can be a real surface such as a support table. The shadow pattern (not shown in FIG. 4) is cast onto the object 12 with an optical system including a composite slide 34, first and second illumination sources 35 and 36, and corresponding first and second projection lenses which schematically represent optical systems 37 and 38. The composite slide 34 contains two separate grid slides 34a and 34b, which can be transparencies of symmetrical periodic shadow casting structure such as alternate transparent and opaque grid lines. The grid slides 34a and 34b are identical one with the other with the exception that the grid slide 340 is displaced in phase exactly 90 along the x direction of the composite slide 34 with respect to the other grid slide 3412.

The composite projection system thus described is, in

nation projected through one of the grid slides, such as 340. A second and separate photograph then is made using the shadow pattern cast by the grid slide 34b. the desired sequential selection of slides 34a and 34b can be accomplished by techniques, for example, such as sequential illumination of the sources 35 and 36, by sequentially actuated shutters contained in the two optical paths, or with a single illumination source combined with appropriate mirror-reflector. apparatus selectable to illuminate first one grid structure image and then the other such image. The photographs thus obtained constitute the 0 shadow grid transparency and the 90 shadow grid transparency 41 of FIG. 5.

Each of the transparencies 40 and 41 is exactly duplicated as a photographic negative to provide the respective 180 transparency 42 and the 270 transparency 43, this being possible since the shadow pattern cast upon the datum plane 33 and on the object 12 by the 0 grid structure 34a, for example, is optically identical to a negative made from a photograph of similar structure 180 out of phase.

The shadow patterns contained on each of the transparencies 40, 41, 42, and 43 must each be combined with a second grid structure to provide the optical interference necessary for generating the contour lines. The second grid structure for each of the four phase positions of the projection grid slide is a representation of the projection of the same grid slide onto a known flat surface, such as a surface contained in the datum plane 33, photographically recorded at the observation point 15. In actual practice the interference grid for the 0 and phase positions corresponding with grid structure images 34a and 34b are prepared prior to the time that the FIG. 4 apparatus actually is used to project shadow grids onto a particular object 12, inasmuch as the interference grid transparencies for the 0 and 90 positions remain unchanged so long as the geometry of the FIG. 4 apparatus, including the particular composite slide 34, does not change. The interference grid transparencies for each of the and 270 positions are obtained by making negative duplicates of the 0 and 90 interference grids, respectively.

Each of the four shadow grid transparencies 40-43 next is precisely aligned with its corresponding interference grid transparency. Accurate registry can be obtained by techniques known in the art, such as index marks superimposed on the various 0 and 90 shadow transparencies when the photographs are taken and on this step being shown at 47 on FIG. 5. Intermediate composite transparencies are additionally made for the 90, 180, and 270 shadow transparency-interference transparency overlay combinations, as shown at 48, 49, and 50.

Each of the four intermediate composite transparencies, in addition to individually containing all of the available surface contour information of the object 12, also contains the unwanted extraneous information such as portions of the shadow lines (from the respective shadow grid transparencies), portions of the interference grid lines (from the respective interference grid transparencies), and the highfrequency interference patterns generated by optical pattern interference between the shadow grid pattern and the interference grid pattern. This unwanted optical information is substantially or completely cancelled by overlaying the four intermediate composite transparencies in precise registry and then making a final composite transparency as shown at 51. The resultant final composite transparency contains only continuous contour lines corresponding to the surface contour of the object 12 if sinusoidal grid structure images 34a and 34b have been used, since the steps described with reference to FIG. represent Equation (2) through one complete cycle of phase shift. Even if square-wave grid structure images were used, the resultant final composite transparency and, of course, any prints made therefrom are found to be substantially completely free of any visible information extraneous to the contours being investigated.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates only to preferred embodiments of the invention and that numerous modifications or alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

I. In contour measuring apparatus, in combination comprising:

a source of illumination directed toward an object space in which an object to be examined may be positioned;

shadow casting structure disposed in the optical path between said source of illumination and said object space,

said shadow casting structure having a periodically repetitive pattern of segments which are alternately opaque and transmissive with respect to illumination from said source; and

motive means operatively connected with said shadow casting structure for selectively translating said shadow casting structure in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of said periodic repetition.

2. The combination as in claim 1, wherein said motive means includes means to serially translate said shadow casting structure to a plurality of stationary positions each of which is displaced a predetermined spatial phase distance from the immediately preceding stationary position.

3. The combination as in claim 1, wherein said motive includes means to translate said shadow casting structure at a substantially constant velocity in said direction.

4. The combination as in claim 3, wherein said motive means includes means to translate said shadow casting structure at said constant velocity for a minimum predetermined distance equal to an integral number of periods of said periodically repetitive pattern.

5. In a contour measuring system, apparatus for easting multiple images onto a surface, comprising:

means for selectively casting a first periodically repetitive shadow pattern having a certain spatial frequency into an object space whereat a surface being measured may be positioned; and

means for selectively casting into said object space a second repetitive periodic shadow pattern having the same certain spatial frequency to occupy a region coextensive with at least a portion of the region occupied by said first shadow pattern and displaced in phase by a predetermined amount of a cycle of said spatial frequency-with respect to said first shadow pattern.

6. In a contour measuring system, apparatus for easting multiple images onto a surface, comprising:

first projection means for selectively casting a first shadow pattern having a periodically repetitive pattern of parallel grid lines of a certain spatial frequency into an object space whereat a surface to be measured may be positioned;

second projection means for'selectively casting a second shadow pattern identical to said first shadow pattern into the object space such that the grid lines of said first and second shadow patterns are parallel with each other and such that the spatial frequency of said second shadow pattern is displaced in phase a predetermined amount from the spatial frequency of said first shadow pattern.

7. Apparatus as in claim 6, wherein:

said first projection means includes a first projection slide bearing an image for projection of said first shadow pattern;

first lens means to focus said first shadow pattern at the object space;

said second projection means includes a second projection slide bearing an image for projection of said second shadow pattern;

second lens means to focus said second shadow pattern at the object space; and

projection slide positioning means for maintaining said first and second projection slides in place in the respective projection means to maintain said phase displacement between said shadow patterns.

8. Apparatus as in claim 7, wherein:

said projection slide positioning means comprises a unitary slide carrier operably received in both of said projection means and containing both of said projection slides spatially positioned with respect to each other to maintain said phase displacement between said shadow patterns. 

1. In contour measuring apparatus, in combination comprising: a source of illumination directed toward an object space in which an object to be examined may be positioned; shadow casting structure disposed in the optical path between said source of illumination and said object space, said shadow casting structure having a periodically repetitive pattern of segments which are alternately opaque and transmissive with respect to illumination from said source; and motive means operatively connected with said shadow casting structure for selectively translating said shadow casting structure in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of said Periodic repetition.
 2. The combination as in claim 1, wherein said motive means includes means to serially translate said shadow casting structure to a plurality of stationary positions each of which is displaced a predetermined spatial phase distance from the immediately preceding stationary position.
 3. The combination as in claim 1, wherein said motive includes means to translate said shadow casting structure at a substantially constant velocity in said direction.
 4. The combination as in claim 3, wherein said motive means includes means to translate said shadow casting structure at said constant velocity for a minimum predetermined distance equal to an integral number of periods of said periodically repetitive pattern.
 5. In a contour measuring system, apparatus for casting multiple images onto a surface, comprising: means for selectively casting a first periodically repetitive shadow pattern having a certain spatial frequency into an object space whereat a surface being measured may be positioned; and means for selectively casting into said object space a second repetitive periodic shadow pattern having the same certain spatial frequency to occupy a region coextensive with at least a portion of the region occupied by said first shadow pattern and displaced in phase by a predetermined amount of a cycle of said spatial frequency with respect to said first shadow pattern.
 6. In a contour measuring system, apparatus for casting multiple images onto a surface, comprising: first projection means for selectively casting a first shadow pattern having a periodically repetitive pattern of parallel grid lines of a certain spatial frequency into an object space whereat a surface to be measured may be positioned; second projection means for selectively casting a second shadow pattern identical to said first shadow pattern into the object space such that the grid lines of said first and second shadow patterns are parallel with each other and such that the spatial frequency of said second shadow pattern is displaced in phase a predetermined amount from the spatial frequency of said first shadow pattern.
 7. Apparatus as in claim 6, wherein: said first projection means includes a first projection slide bearing an image for projection of said first shadow pattern; first lens means to focus said first shadow pattern at the object space; said second projection means includes a second projection slide bearing an image for projection of said second shadow pattern; second lens means to focus said second shadow pattern at the object space; and projection slide positioning means for maintaining said first and second projection slides in place in the respective projection means to maintain said phase displacement between said shadow patterns.
 8. Apparatus as in claim 7, wherein: said projection slide positioning means comprises a unitary slide carrier operably received in both of said projection means and containing both of said projection slides spatially positioned with respect to each other to maintain said phase displacement between said shadow patterns. 